Mass. Agency Backs $8M Outage Fine For National Grid

Law360, New York (June 30, 2009, 12:00 AM EDT) -- The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities has upheld an $8 million fine against National Grid for failing to meet service quality standards in 2006, a year when storms left hundreds of thousands of people without power.

The penalty, which the state's top law enforcement officer said would result in reduced rates for customers in National Grid's service territory, is the result of the state agency's refusal to exclude four storms from the calculation of service quality penalties for that year.